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    1-800-For-SEALS-Only
    1-800-For-SEALS-Only
    1-800-For-SEALS-Only
    Ebook188 pages1 hour

    1-800-For-SEALS-Only

    By Chris Bent

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    About this ebook

    1-800-FOR-SEALS-ONLY is the sixth volume of writings by a former Navy Seal, Chris Bent, who is known for writing inspirational books about Life Values, Family, Self Respect, Good, and Evil. Using many references to the Naval Special Warfare culture and his experiences he explores what it will take to get our country back to being a nation not in disarray, but in unity. Written in short chapters, Chris Bent's wit and humor tackle some serious, and not so serious, subjects and will have you thinking if you really can make a difference. And.... if you can find out who you were meant to be.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherChris Bent
    Release dateJul 10, 2015
    ISBN9780996382953
    1-800-For-SEALS-Only
    Author

    Chris Bent

    Chris Bent graduated from Yale and became a Navy "Frogman" graduating from BUDS Class 31E, Basic Underwater Demolition/Seal School. He was an officer in Underwater Demolition Team 21 which eventually became Seal Team 4 in 1984. He had the honor of recovering several spacecraft, including Gemini 6/7 & AS-201, the very first Apollo Spacecraft to go into space. After the Navy he worked in retailing in various stores including Lord & Taylor, B. Altman, Brooks Bros, J.CREW, and even the World Wrestling Federation. He and his wife now run one of the most successful independent women’s accessory stores in the country. Troubled by all the pain and injustice in the world he is driven to write in brief chapters that touch universal truths. Helping us search and find where we are meant to go. Helping us make a difference. Helping us not to quit. Hopefully. Connect with Chris Bent: YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/ChrisBentBooks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Chris-Bent-Books/1403697576550841 Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChrisBentBooks Blog: http://chrisbent.com/my-favorites/ Smashwords Interview: https://www.smashwords.com/interview/frogfather Smashwords profile page: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/frogfather

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      Book preview

      1-800-For-SEALS-Only - Chris Bent

      Prologue

      This is meant to be a book for just one person. If just that one person is touched in some way to make their journey better, then the effort is not in vain. Each one of us can look back to one moment that changed our direction for the better. May this book, a collection of my writs and wit, find that pair of eyes.

      Chris Bent

      Kennebunkport

      June 2015

      www.ChrisBent.com

      This is the 6th book in the 1-800 series to date. It includes chapters from previous books and many new ones. I dare you to put it down… LOL

      I have had the humble honor to have been a member of the Naval Special Warfare community. I was an officer in UDT-21, Underwater Demolition Tteam 21. UDT-21 became Seal Team 4 two decades later. From Hell Week to Apollo and Gemini recoveries it was quite a journey. Never combat, but life has a way of challenging us all in other ways. I am humbled before my brothers who have been the tip of the spear downrange.

      How it all happened from a childhood fascination with the frogmen, to diving, to the Navy, to being the first human to touch an Apollo spacecraft to ever return from space, a small part of history, but nevertheless an honor.

      Learning not to quit with wit and persistence and trust and camaraderie was my blessing.

      Using the language and images of that community I challenge the reader to share my journey and to not quit. To not quit on life, yourself, your country, and your God.

      Godspeed & hooyah mates.

      1-800-For-Seals-Only

      inspirational writs by

      CHRIS BENT

      DDG 112 Hooyah

      When something bad happens we all stop a moment and react.

      Like when the earthquake was felt this week.

      My wife and her girlfriends got scared and confused. Natural.

      But when I talked with my buddies their immediate reaction was as mine… What do I do right now? Who needs to be protected and how? That is okay; that is the way life has been created. Nurture and protect; our primal roles.

      Some things are meant to be natural, left alone… as they are part of nature, our nature. We are born. We die. This is natural. This is accepted. We can leave it alone or we can try to alter. Man can dignify it or man can desecrate it. Good or evil. Selflessness or selfishness.

      Peoples’ lives can pay tribute to life or they can cheapify it… (New word, cheapify, or cheapen… I like cheapify… ) Hitler made life cheap. Our soldiers ennobled it. Love makes life beautiful. Addictions make life ugly.

      When something bad happens something has to be done about it. Done does not mean debate! Done does not mean politicize. Nike says Just do it. So do I. Attack bad, don’t dither it. Inaction is the very worst form of action.

      We have a military because history has taught some of us that bad things have and do happen. Diplomacy works often but not always. There are people who lie no matter how much we give and try to understand.

      We may even have to act without anyone else’s permission. While all the public posturing is going on, there is not a day when someone in the military is not somewhere operating covertly, much less an innocent drone hovering for the next perfect kill. Our Special Operations and Intelligence communities have their lives on the line daily to allow us the delicacy of thinking peace is at hand, that we are safe. If something goes bad… our good guys are sent to situations you would cringe at, or withdraw into psychosis.

      DDG 112 USS Michael Murphy was christened in Bath, Maine on May 7, 2011. I was honored to be there. I knew Mike at the start of his journey. Many of you may have read the book Lone Survivor. Mike was a SEAL officer who was sent really deep into the bad. On a lonely mountain in Afghanistan he and two of his men were killed by the Taliban. One miraculously escaped and lives to tell the story. Mike took his final bullets standing with his radio so he could get clear transmission.

      What one does for others is the measure of one’s life. You can take bullets on a hill or you can take criticism in your home. It does not matter as long as you are standing up for good. Calling a spade a spade… calling bad for what it is, period.

      We have become passive in our beliefs. We have become afraid to say out loud what we really feel, what our heart tells us. We don’t listen to our heart because it may be politically incorrect. Proactive or passive about life? About values? About evil?

      A year later in NYC, at the end of the commissioning ceremony on the Hudson River a yell by the 1,000 people there of HOOYAH MIKE! resonated in the piers and hearts nearby.

      When I was told this, my stomach turned and my heart became heavy… and tears… because the word Hooyah is so unique to a very special community in Naval Special Warfare to which I once belonged.

      Godspeed & Hooyah Mike.

      Swim Buddy

      Never get more than 6 feet apart.

      BIG rule

      BIG.

      In the Navy SEALs, if you chose to ignore this rule, then on the next swim you would have a 4 inch 6 foot long hawser (rope) looped around your necks to keep you close together.

      When you are swimming a mile or more in the ocean… and at night… and underwater...you need your swim buddy close so you can concentrate on your compass and navigating to your target. I preferred to keep my hand on my swim buddy’s left hip, making sure he always knew where I was.

      Swimming alone can be real dangerous. It was beat into our heads in our SEAL training. This is why I go nuts when I’m on a dive boat and everybody scatters once they are in the water. They have no clue. I do. SEALs do. Duuuhhh?

      Marriage really demands the same respect. But we don’t get it when we are young. And it is often too late when we are old. Hah! I bet you women want to really trust us and know where we are at all times. But, what if we want our independence and the thrill of a little flirt once in a while?

      We should be going to church together. We should always take our kids to things together. Kids should know togetherness. They should feel you are their swim buddy too. Trust.

      My wife drives me nuts wanting to know where I am every minute. Maybe that is the way it is supposed to be?

      Maybe what they taught us in the Navy is really more profound. All of it was about trust. Going into foreign places where danger exists requires a lot of training, and trust...deep trust.

      We all have our friends we think we trust. Some we have known a long time. Some talk behind our backs. You don’t know who you can really trust until there is a real test.

      One has to care more for the other person than self. You know it when it exists. The hawser teaches trust. It keeps you close.

      Life is one big swim through all kinds of eddies and turbulent currents, even enormous waves that capsize you. When you have been sucked to the depths and come up coughing water and gasping for a breath, your swim buddy is at your side. Then you know trust. Maybe even love.

      Kick, stroke, check your compass, check your depth. That hand is on your hip. That marriage is there for the kids and…. Yourself. That is real living, real family. All else is a delusion.

      Ultimately, partners die or leave.

      There is one swim buddy you can always count on.

      You can read about Him in the New Testament.

      Hooyah.

      The Hard Way

      "Mom, I won’t do it.

      Leave me alone.

      You don’t understand me.

      Squirming to hide their arrogance and insecurity, the child, then the teen, then the 20-something basks in their new-found independence. Independence from rules, values, and you. It has become the Mom, Whatever! generation. The new demographic.

      The Truth of the matter is that Moms really do know you better than you know yourself 90% of the time. Powerful statistics that have existed since the beginnings of man.

      My way is my highway.

      Every person is sent down their self-made highways of circumstance. In Western civilizations at least. Forget it in those other cultures. There, Mom, Whatever! might mean capital punishment… like death or at least cutting off part of your body or being sold.

      Why have we always chosen the me path?

      When you are young and healthy you feel so in control.

      With indestructible bodies that flaunt regulation. This is the easy path. Your peers lead you down it with innocence and ignorance. Party. Go to work. Party. Unless you are poor.

      There is now the keyboard culture with their ear buds comforting the insecure mind. Keyboard fantasy. Life is centered in the keyboard. Makes it easy to avoid responsibility. Avoiding responsibility is easy, just do it.

      But if one ever chooses to look

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